fun with sunflowers

7/23/2019 Fun With Sunflowers

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Fun with sunflowers



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Contents

Introduction ………………………………................ 3

Planting and growing the seeds …….………. 4

Helping the sunflowers to grow ……….…….. 5

Collecting the seeds …………………………..…. 5

Sunflower facts ……………………………….……. 6

Sunflower seed activity sheets:

Make a life raft ………………………. 7

Make a sunflower seed necklace ….. 8

How many seeds? …………………. 9

Make a bird feeder …………………. 10

Photo gallery …………………………………….. 11 (To save ink, avoid printing pages 11 & 12)



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Introduction

Sunflowers are majestic, colourful plants that grow relatively quickly. Much of theirappeal is in their bright colours and their great height – many plants often ending uptowering above adults, let alone children!

Once you start learning more about sunflowers, you will inevitably be hooked! There

are so many things you can do besides just growing them. The activity sheets in thisbooklet are just a few of the many ideas around. With our mild weather, manysunflowers are thriving well into September, which is a really good time of year tospend time together as a family, and enjoy the last bit of the good weather beforewinter whistles in.

There is no doubt that there is much to learn, and much fun to be had followingthrough some of the ideas in this booklet – why not see if you can find out any moresunflower facts other than those listed on page 6?

One small word of warning though - sunflowersare

fun, but their seeds are small,and so can present a choking hazard for very small children, and their petals are poisonous, so all activities in this book must be supervised by a responsible adult.



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Planting and growing the seeds

Sunflowers are colourful, fascinating plants that are fairly easy to grow – you canplant the seeds directly into the ground, start them off in a pot indoors before plantingout, or if you want to see the very beginnings of their growth, germinate the seeds ona plate indoors, and then transplant them to a pot or the garden. Whatever youdecide, your sunflowers are sure to bring hours of fun and enjoyment.

To germinate your seeds before planting:

You will need: A plateSheets of kitchen roll A spray bottle filled with water

1. Spread a piece of kitchen roll out on the plate, and spray it with water to makeit damp.

2. Spread several seeds out on top of the damp kitchen roll.3. Place a second sheet of kitchen roll on the top of the seeds, and spray it withwater, leave the seeds to germinate on the plate, in a warm, sunny place suchas a windowsill.

4. Check the seeds daily, making sure the kitchen roll is damp (not wet – toomuch water will cause the seeds to go mouldy).

5. Within a week or two, the seeds will start to germinate. Those that germinatefirst are likely to produce the strongest plants.

Planting seeds in a pot

You will need:

A small flower pot for each seedCompost A few small stones

1. Put the small stones in the bottom of the flower pot.2. Add a small amount of compost to half fill the pot.3. Put the seed into the pot and top up the pot with the rest of the compost, press

down the soil lightly.4. Put the pot onto a saucer, and leave in warm, sunny place, such as a

windowsill, or sheltered spot on a patio.5. Water the plants well, shoots will appear within a few weeks.6. Once the shoots grow to 10 cm, they can be transplanted into the garden, in a

sunny spot. Remember that sunflower heads will move with the sun, sochoose carefully where you plant them.

Planting into the ground

Seeds can be planted directly into the ground, before or after germination, 2-3 cmbelow the surface. Simply create a small hole, put the seed in, cover, and water well. As the plants grow, they will need some support, such as a fence, trellis or sturdy

sticks anchored alongside each plant.



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Helping sunflowers to grow

Sunflowers need lots of……. Yes, you guessed it,…. SUNSHINE! They also need tobe watered regularly. Adding compost from the compost bin in your garden will enrichthe soil, and help your sunflowers grow to a great height and diameter.

Slugs love sunflowers, so you will need to employ some tactics to keep them away

from the young shoots. There are lots of eco-friendly alternatives to slug pellets.Sawdust sprinkled around the plants, or saucers of beer to entice the slugs awayfrom the plants are 2 methods reputed to work well.

Hedgehogs like to feast on slugs, so encouraging them to come into your gardenmight save your sunflowers!

Collecting the seeds

When your sunflower heads start to droop, and the bees stop visiting the heads, it’stime to rescue the seeds from the head.

Big sunflowers can hold hundreds of seeds, and there are lots of things you can dowith them – not least, save them in a dry place for planting next year!

To harvest the seeds :

1. Cut the head off the plant about 20 cm down the stem

2. Place the head somewhere warm and dry (such as a conservatory) for a weekor two.

3. As the head dries out, the seeds become loose, and are easy to remove. Trylightly shaking the head over a large box, bending it outward to reach the morestubborn seeds

4. The seeds need to be kept in a dry place, or they will go mouldy, and will beuseless.



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Fun Facts about sunflowers

• The sunflower is the national flower of Russia

• The head of a sunflower follows the path of the sun as it moves

throughout the day. It is a chemical inside the plant called auxinthat makes the flower do this

• Sunflower seeds have oil inside them, which they use for energy.

• Sunflower seeds are crushed to give us oil. We can use sunfloweroil for cooking

• Sunflowers need a lot of water

• With the right amount of sun and water, they can grow very tall

• The tallest sunflower was grown in The Netherlands – it was over 7metres tall

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Many years ago, sunflower stems were used to fill lifejackets• There are 2 types of sunflower grown today – one has black seeds

and one has white and black striped seeds

• The flowers with black seeds are often made into birdseed

• The flowers with white seeds are often added to bread and snacksfor us to eat

• Sunflowers were grown by American Indian tribes throughout North America. The seeds were used in many foods; they were crushedinto flour to make cakes or bread.

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A long time ago, some parts of the sunflower were used as amedicine to sure snake bites

• In Peru, the Aztecs worshiped sunflowers. They placed sunflowerpictures made of gold in their temples, and crowned princesses inthe bright yellow flowers.

• Sunflowers have lots of calcium and 11 other important mineralsthat are good for you

• They do contain a lot of fat, but it is polyunsaturated fat, which isquite good for you

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Many years ago, children in Hungary made toys out of sunflowers



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Make a life raft

Many years ago, before buoyant modern fabrics were invented, life preservers onships were apparently made out of sunflowers.

The parts of the plant used were the “squidgey bits” found behind the head at the topof the stem. You can test this out, by making a miniature life raft of your own:

You will need:

A large sunflower (or several small ones) A piece of strong, but light weight fabric about 10 cm square(An old arm sling from a first aid kit works well)Wool or strong cotton with a suitable sized needle A water proof pen, such as a marker pen to decorate your raft A bath/bowl full of water to test it out!

To make your life raft:

1. Tear open the sunflower head at the top of the stem (the hollow part). Insideyou will see some white “fluffy” stuff. It feels quite waxy. (This is why it floats!)

2. Take out all the fluffy, waxy stuff, and put it on the fabric.3. Fold over the fabric, so that the fluffy bits are in a kind of “envelope”4. Blanket stitch around the edges5. Decorate it as you wish.6. Launch the raft into a bowl or bath of water, and see if it floats!



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Make a sunflower necklace

Once your sunflowers seeds are dry, you can follow the steps below to make anecklace:

You will need:

Sunflower seeds – the larger white seeds are particularly good A length of cotton/thread A ThimbleSuitably sized needle

To make your necklace:

1. Thread the needle, and tie a knot in the end.2. Using the thimble, poke the needle into the seed at the pointed end (usually

the softest end).

3. Keep threading the seeds onto the line of thread until it is the desired length.4. Tie the two ends together, and your necklace is complete!

N.B. Because of the small parts, and sharp needle, this activity must be supervisedby a responsible adult. Putting anything around a child’s neck creates a potentialchoking hazard, and so can be dangerous. Adult supervision is recommended at alltimes.



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How many sunflower seeds? Name ___________________

Keep your sunflower head in a warm place. When it has dried out, the seeds willbecome loose. Take all the seeds out, and put them on a plate. Save some forplanting next year. Glue the remaining sunflower seeds into the circles of the flowerpicture. Count how many seeds you have used in each circle, and fill in the chart.

I used ___________ seeds in circle number 1




I used ___________ in total



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Make a bird feeder

Birds love sunflowers seeds, (especially the black seeds) and the end of thesunflower season is a good time to encourage birds into your garden by providingthem with something nice to eat. This bird feeder is quick and easy to make:

You will need:

A pine cone or half coconut shell2 tablespoons sunflower seeds1 tablespoon lard, slightly softened A wooden spoon A length of string approx 30 cm long

To make your bird feeder:

1. Put the lard and sunflower seeds in a bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly.3. Spread the mixture onto the pine cone or coconut shell, making sure it sticks.4. Attach the string to the cone or shell (you will need to make a small hole in the

coconut shell), ready for hanging5. Put into the fridge to cool6. Once cool, hang the feeder in a tree or from a bird table ( or anywhere where

cats can’t reach!) and watch the small birds enjoy the feast

For more information and advice on feeding birds, follow this link to the R.S.P.B.website:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/feeding/whatfood/index.asp



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Removing the seeds

Seeds removed

The waxy part of the sunflower

Fluffy and waxy!

Big fat head full of seeds!

Use black seeds for bird feeders

Seeds “n” fluff!

Fold the material over the fluff



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Blanket stitched, and ready to float!

Big and beautiful

Sunflowers grow big!

Measure heads – who’s got the biggest?

fun with sunflowers

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